Poilvache Fortress

The year is 1214. By building this fortress, the Count of Luxembourg aimed to control the territory of Luxembourg, the boundaries of which were defined in the Treaty of Dinant in 1199. This treaty put an end to the conflict between Namur and Luxembourg. Building a castle opposite the powerful Count of Namur, represented by Bouvignes fortress and the town of Dinant, which depended on the Principality of Liège, was quite a challenge! So he made sure he had the necessary means. On the rocky spur, he had a huge fortress built, encompassing a town and surrounded by ramparts stretching over 300 metres. Poilvache was considered to be a real “state fortress”, so powerful that it struck its own coins! But its life was fleeting. The claims of the Count of Luxembourg hardly pleased the Prince Bishop of Liège. In 1430, the people of Liège and the people of Dinant laid siege to Poilvache… The castle was pillaged and sacked. The walls were demolished and used as a quarry: a grievous fate for a fortress that caused all the earldoms of the Middle Ages to tremble.